Sunday, March 18, 2012

Amnesty: Militants have become pilots – Onyema

MR Allen Onyema,founder and national chairman, Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN), has been preaching the message of non-violence and peaceful co-existence in Nigeria. Onyema, who handles the transformationaltraining of the Presidential Amnestyprogrammes forNiger Delta ex-militants, in this interview spoke on the amnesty programme, spate of bombings in the Northern part of Nigeria why more revenue should be allocated to the oil-bearing areas of the country. Excerpts:

Some Niger Delta youths recently took to the streets protesting their non-inclusion in the amnesty programme. Does this mean that the amnesty programme is unsuccessful?

*Onyema: Amnesty has paid off

Their agitation doesn’t imply failure on the part of the amnesty programme but rather a pointer to the fact that the programme is very successful.

This programme is one of the very few government programmes that have succeeded in the history of Nigeria.